Underneath the Skin
by Dance Elle Dance
Summary: She's always been extremely aware of Peter Parker, but now - especially when he's so intent on keeping his promise - it's ten times worse. PeterGwen, set during The Amazing Spider-Man, oneshot


_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own The Amazing Spider-Man, or any Spider-Man related thing, really, haha._

_**Summary: She's always been extremely aware of Peter Parker, but now - especially when he's so intent on keeping his promise - it's ten times worse. PeterGwen, set during The Amazing Spider-Man, oneshot**_

_Yay for PeterGwen! This is my first fic for the Spider-Man fandom, and The Amazing Spider-Man was just an epic movie on so many levels. I might be sort of in love with Andrew Garfield. And I just really wanted to write for these two. They were just so cute. Definitely prefer this pair to PeterMJ. Actually prefer the character of Gwen to MJ in general. Anyway! I hope that y'all enjoy this fic! Thanks so much for reading!_

* * *

**Underneath the Skin**

* * *

He's late.

Gwen hates to even notice that he's late, but he is. That's a fact like her hair is blonde.

Peter Parker is always late - always with an excuse at the ready, always with that same affable smile that's both sheepish and self-conscious.

_Always _sitting behind her.

She supposes she can't begrudge him that, since they do have assigned seats and all, but that doesn't mean it bothers her any less.

He walks in, passing the teacher with his eyes cast down, and then slides in his seat as if she wasn't even there in the first place.

_Right, _she thinks, sadly, _just how Dad wanted._

But that is something she can't hold against her father, either. He just wanted what he thought was best for her, what he thought would keep her safe, despite what her daughter really wants.

She fights off the little tugging of despair in her chest. She hears him fidget behind her, his sneakers purposefully tapping impatiently against the floor. She knows he's leaning slightly forward - don't ask her how, she just does. She can feel his warmth behind her. He's always been warm - warm smiles, warm eyes, warm arms that held her close. That heat being closer than usual is enough to send her brain into a frenzy.

_Sure, __**that's **__not crazy._

Now that she thinks about it, Gwen has always been a bit hyper aware of him. Ever since she first saw him, that lanky frame and those kind eyes, the skateboard always under his arm, a camera often perched in his hands. She knew where he was in a room before she knew anyone else was there, and she supposes that it's always been like that. She can't remember a time before that, really.

It's been particularly difficult, as of late, this extreme awareness of hers. Especially since the whole ordeal with Dr. Connors. Especially since that day in the rain, that day that she felt as if she were going to be washed away along with the trash into the gutter.

She has tried so, so hard to not let any of this get to her, but it's hard. Everything's harder than it seems, lately. She has to make an effort to keep a stony front, has to block off all her feelings for him. She had never ignored him, not even before she fell for him, and she supposes that's not a skill one can learn.

She stares straight ahead, only aware now of teacher talking to the boy behind her, scolding him about making promises that he can't keep.

That's when he mutters it, the thing that sends a sprig of hope through her chest. Those words, so casually said, slightly playful and yet she can hear the underlying seriousness of it all.

Those words signified that all might not be lost, after all.

Gwen really wants to turn around, to address him. Just to be able to talk to him would lift a weight off her chest. Would allow her to feel so much better about anything. The irony strikes her then, that he would have been able to make her feel better after her father's death - him and only him - and yet he would have nothing to do with her.

She feels a lightness come over her though, allows her lips to quirk into a small smile, and she still forces herself to stay stationary, to not turn around and grab his face and kiss him in the way that she's missed.

But she doesn't. Something tells her that she can't, not just yet. It's a miracle in and of itself that he had even made that insinuation. Besides, she's sure _that _wouldn't go over well with their already displeased teacher.

At this juncture, the only thing Gwen Stacy can really do is enjoy the sudden lightness of her chest and feel the blissful relief that things might be looking up.

* * *

_**End.**_


End file.
